Vermont Public Radio Wins Five Regional Murrow Awards

04/04/08 9:00PM

Vermont Public Radio has been
recognized with five top awards for excellence in broadcast journalism in the 2008
Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards contest, including an award for its comprehensive
coverage of climate change.

The awards were announced
April 4 in Marlborough, MA, by the Radio-Television News Directors Association.

VPR received five of 13
awards in the small market radio category that includes public and commercial
radio stations in the six New
England states. VPR won
honors in categories of Continuing Coverage, Investigative Reporting, News
Documentary, Broadcast Writing and Hard News Feature.

The Radio-Television News
Directors Association has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic
journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Murrow Award recipients
demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for
the broadcast news profession.

VPR's John Dillon received
the award for Investigative Reporting for his stories on the possible health
effects of chloramine in municipal water supplies.

The documentary "Homeless in Vermont" received the award in the News Documentary category.
It looked at the changing face of homelessness in Vermont, and the growing number of families and working poor
who are in need of shelter. VPR visited with homeless war veterans, talked with
shelter providers, and heard about the effort to address this troubling issue.
The documentary was produced by Lynne McCrea, hosted by Neal Charnoff and it included
reporting by Nina Keck.

The award-winning pieces in
the regional contest will now be entered into the national competition, which
will be announced in October.

"These awards are a reflection of our listeners' desire for
a strong regional news effort," said Vermont Public Radio President Mark
Vogelzang. He went on to credit, "the excellent reporters and producers who
work at VPR," for having earned these awards.

In 2007 VPR was the recipient of five regional and two national
RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Awards. Links to
these and other past awards presented to Vermont Public Radio can be accessed
at the Achievements page on VPR's web site.